Lost and found parables - sheep, coins, and Prodigal Son (Luke 15)

Jesus is hanging out with tax collectors and sinners again when the Pharisees and legal experts complain that Jesus welcomes sinners.

Jesus then provides three parables.  Each of which outline God's perspective of losing a loved one and then finding him or her again.

First, the parable of a shepherd with 100 sheep.  He leaves the 99 behind to find the lost one and rejoices when it is found.  Jesus states that there is more rejoicing in heaven for the one sinner who repents than the 99 who do not need to repent.

Second, the parable of a woman with 10 silver coins.  The marginalia of the NIV states that each coin was worth a day's wage She loses one and searches for it.  She finds it and calls her friends over to share in her excitement.  In the same way, the angels rejoice when a sinner repents.  

This actually is interesting.  The value of the coins was not all that much.  I doubt many people find enough value in a day's wage to call over friends should be they lose and then recover a day's wage.  Rather, a day's wage is quite ordinary and mundane to us.  We might not consider it all that valuable.  

But the contrast is that in heaven, the angels think view the soul of the sinner as valuable.  We might consider the winner to not be that high of value, but to the angels and ultimately to God, they are quite valuable.

Finally, the probable of the Prodigal Son.  A rich man has two sons.  One of whom asks for his inheritance early (which is very rude, even by today's standards) and then completely squanders it.  He is eating broken down and hungry and decides to return to the father.  The father sees him far off, runs to embrace him, and has a big party.

Meanwhile, the other son is resentful.  He has worked and served the father all his life never had any party.

This last parable parallels the exact situation in which Jesus was in while describing the same parable.  The was surrounded by sinners and in his heart was rejoicing that they were turning to him.  Meanwhile, the Pharisees and legal experts who looked down at the sinners were the resentful son in the parable. 

The parable also stands for the contrast of free will and grace versus being a slave to the law.  The Pharisee/ resentful son was a slave to expectations and duty.  He followed accordingly, but the fruit was resentment.  Meanwhile, the returning son had made a number of choices, both good and bad.  He lived under choice, but the freedom to choose the father or not to be with the father.  He choose to not be with the father and the father willingly accepted this, even enabling it with the early inheritance.  

But the fruit of that decision was terrible.  When he eventually realized it, he choose to go back to the father.  The father met him with love, grace, rejoicing, and a big party.